Kepler-11

Star

Kepler-11 — a Sun-like G-type star of nearly one solar mass, ~2,110 light-years away in Cygnus. Sober in itself, it hosts one of the most compact, flattest planetary systems known: six planets, five inside Mercury's orbit.

Open in 3D viewSee Kepler-11 in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Mass

1.91 × 10³⁰ kg

0.961 M☉

Radius

740,920 km

1.06× wider than the Sun

Science

Physical

Mass: 1.91 × 10³⁰ kg · 0.961 M☉
Radius: 740,920 km · 1.06× wider than the Sun
Density: 1,122 kg/m³ · 1.1× water

Radiation & temperature

Luminosity: 4.02 × 10²⁶ W · 1.05 L☉

Discovery & history

Name: A Kepler-mission catalogue designation; no proper name.

Watched by NASA's Kepler telescope, it revealed six sets of transits at once; the planets' mutual tugs let their masses be weighed, a landmark 2011 result.

Images

Artist's concept of the compact, coplanar six-planet Kepler-11 system — an artist's impression, not a photograph. — NASA / Tim Pyle (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Where to find it — in Cygnus, the Swan (IAU constellation chart). To the eye it is a single point of light; no telescope has imaged its surface. — IAU / Sky & Telescope, R. Sinnott & R. Fienberg (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image